Waste disposal apparatus



J e 3, .1941, JQ'H. POWERS WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed Jan. 14, 1939 v Inventor: James HIPov/ers;

His Attorneg Patented June 3, 1941 WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS James H. Powers, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application January 14, 1939, Serial No. 250,975

Claims.

The present invention relates to waste disposal apparatus, more particularly of the kind designed for disposal of garbage and other forms of waste material by comminution of the material and flushing of the comminuted material into a sewer or the like with the aid of water.

Among the objects of the invention is the provision of improved and simplified control mechanism for increasing the efficiency, reliability, and safety of operation of such waste disposal apparatus.

More particularly, an object of the invention is the provision of control mechanism for a waste disposal appliance, embodying means for preventing operation of the comminuting mechanism of the appliance in the absence of a supply of water adequate for the disposal operation.

In the operation of waste disposal apparatus of the kind referred to, a generous flow of water is necessary to facilitate reduction of the waste materials to proper fiowable state for passage through the discharge clearances and piping system, and to act as a carrier for flushing comminuted material to the sewer or other receiving means. Where, as is common practice, particularly in domestic installations, a waste disposal appliance is connected with the drain opening of a kitchen sink or like structure for convenience in charging the appliance with food wastes, it is usual to employ the faucet of the sink or like structure for supplying the required water to the appliance. Ordinarily an operator, if given proper instructions, will turn on the faucet to give an adequate water flow when operating the comminuting mechanism of the appliance. However, it has been found that sometimes, through ignorance, carelessness, or forgetfulness, an operator either will fail to turn on the water or will open the faucet to supply only an inadequate flow. As the result of such inadequate water flow, there may arise troubles such as retardation or blocking of moving parts of the comminuting mechanism so as to retard the elimination process, clogging of the discharge clearances and piping system, and, under some conditions, even impairment of the water seal in the plumbing trap.

simplified control arrangements have been proposed whereby manual operation of a single master control element serves mechanically to close a switch for energization of the driving motor of a waste disposal appliance and at the same time mechanically to open a valve for supplying water to the appliance. However, such arrangements as heretofore proposed, have not solved the problem of insuring adequate water supply whenever the motor driven comminuting mechanism is placed in operation. This is due to the fact that a predetermined movement of the master control element effects closure of the motor switch to cause operation of the comminuting mechanism regardless of conditions in the water supply system. For example, the master control can be operated to close the motor switch and open the valve to the appliance even though the water in the supply system may be turned off so that no water can flow to the appliance. Or, more commonly, the drawing of water at some other point in the supply system may so reduce the system pressure that insufficient water will fiow to the appliance even though the valve to the appliance is operated to fully open position by the master control. Thus, even with control arrangements employing a single master control for mechanically actuating both the motor switch and the water valve, there may arise conditions such that operation of the master control will eifect operation of the comminuting mechanism without adequate flow of water to aid in the disposal operation, thereby giving rise to the troubles referred to hereinbefore.

It is, therefore, one of the more specific obj ects of the present invention to provide a control mechanism for a waste disposal appliance, embodying a flow responsive device interconnected in such manner as to render operation of the control mechanism dependent upon the flow of water to aid in the disposal operation.

Other objects, as well as the details of that which I believe to be novel and my invention, will become apparent from the following description and the claims appended thereto, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 shows in perspective and partially cut away, an exemplary form of waste disposal apparatus having control mechanism embodying my present invention; Fig. 2 shows, partially in section, a portion of the control mechanism which is manually operable; Figs. 3 and 4 show respectively a side elevation and a longitudinal section of an improved flow responsive switching device for use as part of the control mechanism, and Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electric circuit connections of the control mechanism.

The waste disposal appliance illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing is of the form disclosed and claimed in my previous application, Serial No. 182,775, filed December 31, 1937, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and is provided with a manually operable control of the form disclosed and claimed in my Patent No. 2,185,037, dated December 26, 1939, and also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. It is to be understood, however, that the illustration of this particular form of appliance and manual control is for purposes of example only and that my present invention is not limited by the details of the illustrated appliance and cooperative manual control. Hence, only sufficient of these details will be set forth herein as is required to convey a complete understanding of the present invention.

As will be seen particularly from 1 of thedrawing, the housing or casing of the appliance consists in the main of an upper part I and a lower part II joined by a slip connection, indicated at l2, to provide for positional adjustment of the lower part relative to the upper part. The upper housin part is adapted to be relatively permanently joined, as best shown in Fig. 2, by means of flange l3, clamping ring l4, adapter ring 15, and bolts 16, to a kitchen sink or like structure I! with the opening in the upper endof the housing in registry with the drain opening of the structure ll so that water, supplied to structure I! by faucet 18, may flow through the drain openin into the housing for aid in the waste disposal operation. Additional support for the appliance is provided by a floor mounted stand having a base and vertically adjustable brackets 2| attached tothe lower housing part. The bottom plate 22 of the lower housing part is provided with a discharge duct 23- adapted to be connected, through a trap 24-, to a sewer connection pipe 25 for conducting water and comminutedmaterial from the appliance.

Comminution of waste material, which is fed through the drain opening in structure l7 andthrough upper housing part In into the grinding chamber defined by lower housing part- It, is accomplished by means of a stationary shredding and cutting device 28 and arotatable impclling and reducing device 29. The stationary device is mounted in a recess in the wallof part H while the rotatable device is supported by bottom plate 22 and connected to be driven by means of an electric motor 30 supported beneath bottomplate 22. For a detail descriptionof the construction and operation of the comminu'ting' means, reference may be had to my previously referred to application Serial No. 182,775.

For manual control of the operation of motor 30, there is provided a switch 3+ mounted on the side of housing part I0 and enclosed in a' casing 32, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Power for operation of the motor is supplied through a connection cord 33 which is connected with controlswitch 3| and may be plugged into any suitable electric outlet as indicated at 34, connection tothe motor being effected through cable 39. Switch arm 35 of switch 3| is connected for actuation by a 'lever 36 mounted on the outer end of a shaft 31 which extends through the side of upper housing part 10. On the inner end of shaft 31 and in fixed relation to lever 36 is a second lever 38 which is disposed within the upper end of housing part ID for actuation by a combined drain closure and control device of the form described in detail in my applications previously identified. This device comprises a cup-shaped strainer member 40, adapted to seat in the opening of adapter ring 15, and a bailie plate 4! mounted on the lower side of the strainer member. Baffle plate 41 is supported for rotation by a handle 42 and has perforations, one of which isindicated at 43, arranged to be moved into and out of registry with cooperating perforations, one of which is indicated at M, in member 40. Depending from baffle plate 4| is a cam projection 45 which is arranged to be moved into engagement with lever 38 for actuation of the switching mechanism. As described, particularly in my application Serial No. 182,775, bailie plate 4| and handle 52 have three control positions. When the handle points to Remove, as indicated in Fig. 1, cam projection 45 is out of engagement with lever 38 so that a biasing spring 46, connected with lever 36, is operative to maintain switch arm 35 in Off position. Under these conditions, member 40 may be removed from the drain opening, or it may be left in the drain opening to serve as a strainer since the perforations 43- in baffle plate 4| are in registry with the perforations 44 in member 40. With member 40 in the drain opening, handle 42 may be rotated in a counterclockwise direction to the Seal position to close the perforations in the strainer member and thereby permit filling of the sink for any desired purpose. A further counterclockwise rotation of handle 42 to the On position againopens the perforations 44 so that water may flow from the sink into the housing of the appliance, and also causes cam projection45 to engage lever 38 so as to effect actuation of switch arm 35 to the On position, shown in Fig. 2', for energization of motor 30. To efiect deenergization of the motor, handle 42 is returned to either the Seal or Remove position which. permits spring 46 to return switch arm 35 to OfP position.

Inthe particular installation herein described, the flow of water for aid in the disposal operation is secured from faucet l8, preferably the cold water side, connected with water supply line 50. As previously indicated herein, it is desirable to I insure that the comminuting mechanism can be placed in operation only when the flow of water is adequate for proper disposal of the comminuted material. To this end and in accordancewith' the present invention, I have provided a control mechanism including a flow responsivedevice which prevents energization of motor 30 by the manually operable control, hereinbefore cumstances, to install the flow responsive device at some other point in the system where it will be responsive to the fiow of the water supplied to the appliance. In case the device isinstalled in a water line at some locality such as inthe cellar, care should be exercised to see that the waterline in which the installation is made does not supply fixtures other than the sink or like structure in which the waste disposal appliance is connected. In carrying out the present invention, various forms of flow responsive devices may be employed, but I prefer to employ the improved flow switch which forms the basis of my copending application Serial No. 250,976, filed January 14, 1939, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Sufiicient of the details of the construction and operation of this improved device will be given herein to insure an understanding of the present invention.

As will be seen best from the sectional view of Fig. 4, the flow responsive device 5| has a housing 52 in which are a flow compartment 53 and a switch compartment 54. Flow compartment 53 is connected in water line 50 by means of pipe fittings 55 and 56 threaded respectively into the inlet and outlet ends of the compartment The inlet end of the flow compartment is in the form of a nipple 51 screw-threaded into housing 52 with the joint sealed by packing washer 58. Within compartment 53 is anaxially movable flow actuable element in the formof a plunger 60 the main body Blofwhich seats in and is guided by a seat 62 formed in nipple '51. The plunger has an extension or stem 53 which passes through and is guided by a spider 64 screwthreaded on to the inner end of nipple 51', and has also a fiange or skirt 65 which rests on the rim of seat 62 when no water is flowing. Formed in nipple 51 at the base of seat 62 is a nozzlelike orifice 66 arranged to discharge a relatively high velocity stream axially against the base of the plunger. A slight clearance is provided between the body 6| of the plunger and the wall of seat 62 for passage of water around the plunger, and the body portion of the plunger is provided with longitudinally extending ribs 61, the spaces between which prevent jamming of the plunger due to collection of scale or other solid particles in the clearance.

Within compartment 54, which is formed by housing 52 and a removable cover 10, is mounted a switch with actuating mechanism therefor. Though this switch may be of any suitable form, it is preferable that it be of the micro-movement variety, that is, requiring only very small differentials of movement of the switching element thereof to effect opening and closing of the conthe outer end of the plunger. -When such pres-'- sure is released, the plunger, and with it the spring biased element 12, moves outwardly to effect closure of the circuit between contact ter-" ininals 14. ,These terminals '14 are connected with switch Stand motor 39 through connection cord so that, as shown by the circuit diagram of Fig. 5,. the terminals 14 are in series.

with the motor and switch 3!.

Actuation of plunger 13 is effected by a lever 71 fulcrumed on a through shaft 18 which extends through the partition 19 separating compartments 53 and 54. This through shaft is supported by a nipple 80 screw-threaded into partition 19 and the through shaft is surrounded by any suitable form of packing gland generally indicated at 8|. On the inner end of shaft 78 is mounted a lever-arm 82 arranged in position to be engaged by stem 63 of plunger Bil. One end of lever T! is provided with an adjustable screw 83 arranged to bear against the outer end of plunger 13. At the other end of lever H is a compression spring 84 which acts between lever '11 and an adjustable screw 85 carried by a fixed support 36 on housing 52. This spring biases lever 17 for clockwise rotation, as viewed in Fig. 3, so as to efiect inward pressure on plunger 13, thereby to maintain switching element 12 in its open circuit position diagrammatically shown in Fig. 5.

For operation of the apparatus described, with the housing of the appliance charged with waste material and strainer member 40 seated on the drain opening of structure II, handle 42 is turned to "On to open the apertures in thestrainer member for flow of water from structure 1 IT to the appliance and to effect closure of switch 3| as previously described. Closure of switch 3|, however, is ineifective'to cause operation of motor 30 and the comminuting mechanism until an adequate supply of water is flowing from faucet 18.. Opening of the faucet permits flow of water through supply line 50 and flow compartment 53. I The resultant difference in static pressure on opposite-sides of plunger 60, together with the friction due to flow around the plunger and the dynamic pressure on the base of the plunger due to the relatively-high velocity flow from orifice 68, then cause movement of plunger 55 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4 to exert force on lever arm 82 tending to rotate. shaft 18 and lever 11 in opposition to the force exerted by spring 84. The force tending to effect displacement ofplunger 60 and, therefore, the force exerted by the plunger on arm 82 tending to effect rotation of lever 'l'l, depend very closely upon the rate of flow through supply line 50 and compartment 53. When the flow through the supply line attains a certain rate, the force exerted by plunger 60 is sufficient to overbalance the force of spring 84 and cause rotation of lever 71 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, to permit outward movement of plunger 73 and closing of the contacts of switch H so as to complete the circuit for energization of motor 30. Through adjustment of screw 85, which determines the force exerted by spring 84 in opposition to movement of lever 11, and'adjustment of screw 83, which determines the positioning of the lever mechanism relative to the plunger, the operation of the flow responsive mechanism to eifectcompletion of the motor circuit maybe rendered .very critically responsive to the rate of fiow, predetermined as being the minimum necessary for proper operation of the disposal apparatus. Also, .'due to the improved construction of the fiow responsive mechanism, as described indetailjin'mypreviously referred to applicationSerial No. 250,976, and to the smallamount ofmovement' of lever T! required to effect operation of switch H, the device is very sensitive to small variations in rate of flow. As a result of this, a drop of only a few gallons per hour below the rate determined to be the minimum required for,proper operation of the disposal apparatus, causes operation of the flow responsive switching mechanism to open the motor circuit. Thus, operation of the comminuting mechanism with inadequate water supply is insured against-at all times.

If it is desired for any reason to secure a. large .volu neof flow fronrfaucet l8 without efiecting operation of the waste disposal appliance, it is necessary only to turn handle 42 to the position labelled Remove, whereupon switch 3| is opened so that the comminuting mechanism is rendered inoperative regardless of the operation of flow responsive device 5!.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided an improved control mechanism for a waste disposal appliance, whereby operation of the control mechanism to render the comminuting mechanism of the appliance operative and inoperative is caused to be dependent upon the flow of water to the appliance. As will be obvious to one slcilled in the art, various modifications may be made in the detailsof theiembodiment of the invention. as-herein described and; illustrated. For example; under some circumstances, it may-bedesirable toconnecti' the; watersupply line directly with the waste: disposaL appliance. In such casev the manually operable switch 3| may be dispensed with-and control of: the operation of the comminuting mechanism may be effected solely through the. agency of a valve for controlling the fiow of water to the appliance. ,Itintended therefore-that. this-and such other modifications as: do; not depart. from the true; spirit of the presentv invention shall come within the scope of' the-appended claims.

What I claim as-new and desire, to secure b Letters-Patent: of. the United States is:

1..In.combination, awaste disposal appliance including acasing. with meansfor comminuting.

material in. said casing and power meansfor operatingsaid comminuting means; a conduit system for flow of water to aid; in the disposal of the comminuted material and including said casing together with meansfor supplying water to tliecasing and-means for conducting water and comininuted material from the casing; means for controlling the operation of' said power means to render said comminutingmeans flow of waterto'said chamber and means for conducting water and comimminuted material from the chamber; and control means for renderingj said" comminutingimeans operative and inoperative, which said control; means includes a device responsive toflowing oi water in said system and operative to prevent operation of said comminuting means at all'times. when the supply of water to. said system is. less than a predetermined minimum volume of flow.

3: In a waste disposal apparatus, the combination of means for commutin waste material, power means for effecting operation of said comminuting means, means for controllingthe operation ofsaid power means to render said comminuting means operative and inoperative,

means for supplying a flow of waterto aid inthe disposal of the comminuted material, means for discharging the water and comminuted material'to a sewer system or the like, and a flow responsive device having an; element arranged for actuation-by such flow of water and operative, in the absence of such flow of water, to render said controlling means ineffective to cause operation of said comminuting means.

4. In a waste disposal apparatus, the combination of means for comminuting waste material, an electric motorfor efi'ecting operation of said comminuting means, means for supplying a flow of water to aid in the disposal of the comminutedmaterial, means for discharging water and comminuted material to a sewer system or the like, switching means for controlling the operationof said motor. andaflow responsive devicehaving anelement. arranged for actuation by'such flow of: water and operative, in the absence of suchflow of water,. to render, said switching means ineffective to cause operation of said 1 motor.

5. Incombination, a: waste disposal appliance includinga casing with electric motor operated means-ion comminuting material in said casing; a; conduit system. for flow of water to aid in disposal-of thccomminutedmaterial and including said casing together with means for supplying water to said; casing; and means for conducting water-and comminuted' material from the casin means: including a; switch. for controlling the operation-of said-.motor, operated means, and a flow responsive device'in saidsystem and operatively; connected with said switch for efiecting closure oi the, switch only when a flow of water in. excess: of apredetermined minimum volume is: supplied: said system.

6;. In combination, a waste disposal appliance including a, casing with. electric motor operated.

meansszforv comminutingmaterial. in said casing; a-..conduitsystem for flow of? water to aid in disposal; of the-comminuted material and including said casing: together-withlmeans for supplying water to said casing and meansfor conducting water and comminuted: material from the casing; and: control means for said appliance including afirst. switch for rendering said motor operated; means operative and inoperative, a second! switch in series with said first switch, and. a now responsive device having an element actuable by' flowing of water in said. conduit system. and operative. to efiect closure of said second switch only in case water is flowing in said. system in excess of a predetermined minimum;volume.

7-. In. combination with. a waste: disposal appliance having: means for comminuting waste material; and .power: means; for-operating said commi'nu'ting: means; awater line for. supplying water-toy saidi appliancei for aid in. the: disposal of: comminuted; mateniah. means: for conducting watenandcomminuted material from said appliance;...cnntrol means for rendering said power meanscoperative andiinoperative to effect operationcot' saidmomminutingmeanaand a flow responsive device'in saidiwater line and operatively interconnectedwithsaidcontrol means to render the control: means ineffective try-cause operationof said comminutingmeans by saidpower means unless .'a-.volume-of water in excess of a predetermined minimum is 'flowing through said water line tosaidappliance.

8. In combinatiomwitha waste disposal appliancehavingl'electric" motor operated means for comminuting waste material, a water line for supplying aflow of water to said appliance foraid in the disposal of comminuted' material, means for-discharging water and co'mminuted material from: the appliance, means including a switchin circuit with said motor for controlling the operation of said comminuting means, anda flow responsive device having an element actuableby flowing of water in said water line and operatively interconnected with said switch for renderingi closure of the switch dependent upon-flow of water in said water line.

9. In combination, a sink or like structure having a water line connected for supplying water'thereto, a waste disposal appliance connected for receiving water from said sink-orlike" structure and having means for comminutingwaste material and power means; for open ating said comminuting means, means for conducting water and waste material from the appliance to a sewer or the like, means in said water line operable responsively to flow of water to said sink or like structure, and control means for said power means operable dependently upon the operation of said flow responsive means.

10. In combination, a sink or like structure having a drain and a faucet connected with a water line for supplying water to the sink or like structure, a waste disposal appliance including a casing connected with said drain for receivin water from said sink or like structure and having means for discharging water and comminuted material to a sewer connection pipe or the like, said appliance having electric motor operated means for comminuting material in said casing, and control means for said appliance comprising a first switch for controlling the operation of said motor, a second switch connected in series with said first switch, and a ,flow actuable device in said waterline operatively connected for controlling the operation of said second switch.

JAMES H. POWERS. 

